Azores / Açores

In 2003 I booked a flight to go to Friedrichshafen ham radio exhibition in Germany...the flight was scheduled to 7:00 AM. The booked day I fell asleep and arrived at the airport 10 minutes before flight just to discover it had been canceled...I got really "#$!"#$ed... lost all the will to go and asked if I could change the ticket to a flight to the Azores (Açores in Portuguese) islands, I had the tent with me and never had been in the Azores so the radio exhibition could wait for another year, unfortunately they could not change destination so I went in the next flight to Germany, Switzerland actually and then train and boat to Germany.
In 2004 I worked for an ISP and it was necessary to test and connect a router at the American school in the USA Lages airbase, I volunteered to do the job, that way I would have the change to go there, unfortunately it was possible to do everything remotely...so I lost again a change to visit the Islands.
Why do I want to go there, just because that's one of the two parts the country I've never been, being the other one Madeira island.
 

Now there's another chance....:

A team of ham radio operators will be the next weekend (28-30/September 2012) activating all the 9 islands.
Making 5 or more QSO's with them will have a corresponding number of tickets placed into a lottery for a free trip to the Azores!
So I will fire up my FT-817 if band conditions permit, else the FT-102 :), and try my luck. Regardless of the lottery I don't have QSO's with all the 9 islands, so there's another chance for doing that in a single weekend.

More info at  azores-islands-hunt.com

 Wish me luck!